Has the philosophy of western science now had its day?
We in the West have long had a deal with Science, that we would limit our thinking to a kind of science-based, limited and perhaps overly simplistic set of principles, to help along the scientists with the evolution of their development of theories and fields of Science, and, in return, with Science promising, we thought, to reciprocate by improving our lives. So we dutifully chose to ignore anything scientists disliked or did not understand or could not accept (even if they could test it and find it to be verifiable). We discounted ‘alternative’ illness cures such as faith healing or repentance from sin, and we allowed doctors to keep on prescribing drugs for every minor ailment. We taught evolutionary science to our children and avoided mentioning the Creator. We even let politicians make decisions about every aspect of our lives by ‘following the science’. Now we are seeing cracks in the reciprocation by Science. The most scientifically advanced Western countries saw the highest death rates in the pandemic. The climate scientists cannot communicate the necessary steps for stopping the demise of the planet and its living things because nobody wants to change their lifestyle or suffer loss or even the slightest inconvenience to achieve the necessary reversals of human, industrial destructiveness. Even the climate scientists insist on travelling to their conferences by excessively polluting air transport. Science betrays its own human side and human failings. So has the time now come to call off the deal? Maybe it is too late but it would help our sanity to stop digging now that we know we are in a hole, even if we can’t escape it. We could live more honestly if we allowed ourselves the luxury of opening our minds to all forms of truth, not merely material but spiritual too.
